US sales tracking firm NPD has just released the latest sales data for the videogame industry recorded over the month of November, and according to this data, the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops, Xbox 360’s Kinect, and the Xbox 360 itself managed boost total industry sales by 8% as compared to November 2009.

Total sales for the industry amounted to $2.99 billion, as the software category accounted for $1.46 billion (up by 4% from last year) and hardware claimed $1.08 billion (up 2%). Accessory sales were posted at $413.13 million (up a whopping 69%).

NPD’s Anita Frazier writes that this makes the past month “the best November on record in terms of new physical retail sales. It bests November 2008 by roughly $30 million, and that time frame was at the height of the music/dance genre sales.”

Additionally, all sales categories (console hardware, software and accessories) outperformed last year’s efforts, “with the exception of portable hardware and software,” says Frazier.

Incredibly, 40% of total industry sales during November were claimed by the Xbox 360 platform, thanks in part to the release of the controller-free gaming device, Kinect. Xbox 360 accessories, on the other hand, accounted for 60% of that category’s total sales.

Year-to-date, and as of the end of November, however, the videogame industry is still behind 2009’s lofty sales milestone by 5% - the market has until the end of December to outperform 2009’s sales.

Software

Undoubtedly, Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty: Black Ops was the undisputed star of the software sales category, selling (you’d better sit down for this) 8.4 million units at retail in the US alone!

Please, let that number sink in for a second.

8.4 million units of Black Ops were sold in the space of one month, in the United States alone! This means that the game accounted for 25% of all videogame software sold during November, and has become the 7th best-selling game of all time… in only one month!

Interestingly, Frazier notes that sales in the music (and now ‘dance’) game genre climbed by 38% compared to 2009, thanks mostly to the release of Just Dance 2 for the Wii, and Dance Central for Xbox 360 Kinect.

As an additional note of interest, Frazier writes that even though NPD now reports sales “at the total platform level instead of the SKU level… if we were reporting the top 10 SKU’s, Halo: Reach would have been #10 this month.”

Top Ten Software Sales for November 2010

• Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, Wii, PC, NDS) – Activision Blizzard
• Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (360, PS3) - Ubisoft
• Just Dance 2 (Wii) - Ubisoft
• Madden NFL 11 (360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP) - EA
• Fable III (360) - Microsoft
• Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii) - Nintendo
• Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (PS3, 360, Wii, PC) - EA
• Gran Turismo 5 (PS3) - Sony
• NBA 2K11 (360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP,PC) Take-2 Interactive
• Wii Fit Plus (Wii) – Nintendo

Hardware

For the month of November, the Xbox 360 was the best-selling home console in the US, and saw an impressive 68% increase over its sales performance in November 2009. Overall, however, the Nintendo DS outsold all other consoles. Frazier writes:

“It was a high/low story for the DS this month with the new red SKU providing the most sales and the white, lower-priced SKU being #2. It appears the DS attracted two pockets of consumers: those looking for a unique limited-edition product and those looking for value.”

“We expect a big jump in sales in November due to seasonality and the influence of holiday, but the change this November over October is bigger across most platforms than it was last November. This could point to the impact of aggressive retail promotions during the critical Black Friday week.”

Hardware Sales for August 2010

• Nintendo DS: 1.5 million
• Xbox 360: 1.4 million
• Wii: 1.2 million
• PS3: 530 000

Accessories

As far as accessories are concerned, Kinect for Xbox 360 cleaned up and was easily the best-selling item in this category for November 2010. According to Frazier:

“With one month of sales, it’s the top-selling accessory item in terms of dollar sales on a year-to-date basis. The Xbox 360 platform contributed five of the top ten accessory items for the month.”

Source: NPD